Brokerages Set Packaging Co. of America (NYSE:PKG) PT at $169.50

Shares of Packaging Co. of America (NYSE:PKG) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the seven research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $171.29.

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Bank of America raised Packaging Co. of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $172.00 to $202.00 in a research report on Monday, March 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Packaging Co. of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Packaging Co. of America from $172.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Packaging Co. of America from $170.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Packaging Co. of America from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Packaging Co. of America news, VP Thomas A. Hassfurther sold 14,191 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.80, for a total transaction of $2,466,395.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 183,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,967,034. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, VP Thomas A. Hassfurther sold 13,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.06, for a total transaction of $2,507,681.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 187,647 shares in the company, valued at $33,975,365.82. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Thomas A. Hassfurther sold 14,191 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.80, for a total transaction of $2,466,395.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 183,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,967,034. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 38,041 shares of company stock valued at $6,799,177 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Packaging Co. of America

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PKG. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Packaging Co. of America by 1.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,047,771 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,880,777,000 after buying an additional 161,559 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in Packaging Co. of America by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 9,048,220 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,256,164,000 after purchasing an additional 151,624 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Packaging Co. of America by 16.8% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,607,784 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $645,404,000 after purchasing an additional 663,047 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd raised its stake in shares of Packaging Co. of America by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 2,210,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $360,031,000 after purchasing an additional 55,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Packaging Co. of America by 0.5% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,186,729 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $335,772,000 after purchasing an additional 11,536 shares in the last quarter. 89.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Packaging Co. of America Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE PKG opened at $179.53 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $180.50 and its 200 day moving average is $167.14. Packaging Co. of America has a 52 week low of $122.20 and a 52 week high of $191.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 2.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The company has a market cap of $16.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.17, a PEG ratio of 4.38 and a beta of 0.78.

Packaging Co. of America (NYSE:PKG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The industrial products company reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $1.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. Packaging Co. of America had a net margin of 9.81% and a return on equity of 20.25%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.35 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Packaging Co. of America will post 8.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Packaging Co. of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.79%. Packaging Co. of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.96%.

Packaging Co. of America Company Profile

Packaging Corporation of America manufactures and sells containerboard and corrugated packaging products in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Packaging, Paper, and Corporate and Other. The Packaging segment offers various containerboard and corrugated packaging products, such as conventional shipping containers used to protect and transport manufactured goods; multi-color boxes and displays that help to merchandise the packaged product in retail locations; and honeycomb protective packaging products, as well as packaging for meat, fresh fruit and vegetables, processed food, beverages, and other industrial and consumer products.